
Want to know more about Suriname?! Well,here is your chance.
Suriname's flag.
Location: Northern
South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between French Guiana
and Guyana
Area: total: 163,270 sq km,
land: 161,470 sq km,
water: 1,800 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than Georgia
Climate: tropical; moderated by trade winds
Terrain: mostly rolling hills; narrow coastal plain
with swamps
Geography - note: smallest independent country on
South American continent; mostly tropical rain forest; great diversity of flora
and fauna that, for the most part, is increasingly
threatened by new development; relatively small population, mostly along the
coast
Population: 435,449 (July 2003 est.)
Ethnic groups: Hindustani (also known locally as "East Indians"; their ancestors emigrated
from northern India in the latter part of the 19th century) 37%, Creole (mixed
white and black) 31%, Javanese 15%, "Maroons" (their African ancestors
were brought to the country in the 17th and 18th centuries as slaves and escaped
to the interior) 10%, Amerindian 2%, Chinese 2%, white 1%, other 2%
Religions: Hindu 27.4%, Muslim 19.6%, Roman Catholic
22.8%, Protestant 25.2% (predominantly
Moravian), indigenous beliefs 5%
Languages: Dutch (official), English (widely spoken),
Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of
Creoles and much of the younger population
and is lingua franca among others), Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese
Government type:
constitutional democracy
Capital: Paramaribo
Independence: 25 November 1975
(from Netherlands)
Agriculture - products: paddy rice, bananas, palm kernels, coconuts, plantains, peanuts; beef, chickens;
forest products; shrimp
Exports - commodities: alumina,
crude oil, lumber, shrimp and fish, rice, bananas
Exchange rates: Surinamese guilders per US dollar - 2,346.75 (2002)
Highways: total: 4,530 km,
paved: 1,178 km,
unpaved: 3,352 km (1996)
Waterways: 1,200 km;
note: most important means of transport; oceangoing vessels with drafts ranging
up to 7 m can navigate many of the principal waterways

(Coat of Arms and maps of Suriname)
